Fatima Mansions

Fatima Mansions have a terribly confusing discography; not one of their releases made it from their native Ireland to U.S. shores in one piece, but 1991's Come Back My Children is actually an improvement over its 1989 counterpart, the vinyl-only album Against Nature. This CD includes all eight tracks from that album, in order, followed by nearly another full album's worth of singles and B-sides from the same period. Against Nature was a fine debut, more melodic and a bit less noisy than what would come later, and the extra tracks are uniformly excellent; in particular, the inclusion of the shattering 1990 single "Blues for Ceaucescu," perhaps the most clear-eyed and prophetic state-of-the-disunion report inspired by the collapse of the Soviet empire (in particular, the deaths of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu and his wife, murdered by a rampaging mob in the streets of Bucharest) and certainly Fatima Mansions' most powerful six minutes, makes this album a must-purchase. The dry humor of "On Suicide Bridge" and "The Holy Mugger" are equally welcome and considerably less strident, although the closing pair of covers (Ministry's "Stigmata" and the Velvet Underground's "Lady Godiva's Operation") adds little to either song. This is clearly a preferable purchase over Against Nature. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide